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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29795331">Beginnings</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calesvol/pseuds/Calesvol'>Calesvol</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Naruto Events [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blank Period, Canon - Manga, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Post-War, World Travel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 16:54:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,040</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29795331</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calesvol/pseuds/Calesvol</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Sasuke is about to set out from the village again, he's joined by someone he made a promise to not so long ago. (Sakura Month 3.1: "Tell me everything.")</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Naruto Events [10]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2185356</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Beginnings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Warning: G, none</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <em>
    <span>Maybe next time.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The feeling of his fore- and index fingers was a warm memory on her brow, the small, slightly humored smile adorning his lips a sight she’d always treasure. It was over a year and a half ago since that day, since he’d departed from Konoha’s massive gates with a black mantle like furled raven’s wings snapping in an updraft. A warm spring day after six months of imprisonment, and while Sakura was sad to see him go, she knew he needed time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And no matter how much time passed, she’d always wait for the one who filled her heart up so much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It hadn’t been an uneventful time, though. In the two years since the end of the war, Sakura had been promoted to Jōnin barely a few months after for her feats during it, she and Ino had founded the Konoha Children’s Mental Health Clinic, and she’d been promoted to Captain of the Medic Corps, had foiled Kido Tsumiki’s dire machinations—all of which had eaten up her days to the point that it were as though no time had passed at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But, she was ready for something different. She was ready for a new adventure with the one she loved.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sasuke-kun!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bolting from the threshold of the village, hot on Sasuke’s trail, a mellow breeze rustled her orchid-pink locks even as she slowed just meters from her teammate. Yet, still, he stopped for her. His plodding ceased and his head inclined over his shoulder, facing her with his eye of dark onyx, softer than it had ever been since he’d first joined Orochimaru’s side years ago. He was free. He was </span>
  <em>
    <span>himself</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sakura,” he acknowledged with a smile, without endearments. But, he didn’t need them. Her name sounded so sweet when he said it, and it thrilled her heart. With a smile, she raced to his side and fell in stride of the Uchiha.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You didn’t think you’d shake me off that easily, did you?” Sakura demanded mirthfully of her teammate, emphatically shrugging a shoulder where her backpack was slung, beneath her own beige and black-accented traveling cloak that was the typical standard of Leaf shinobi. Nothing could shake off the giddiness she felt underscoring her heartbeat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You always were the stubborn type, Sakura,” Sasuke replied pointedly, yet his smile remained as the pair strode in near perfect tandem of each other. “So, how did you convince Kakashi-sensei to let you accompany me? With how important you are to the village, I thought he’d want to keep you behind.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Though Sakura had tortured herself with guilt the nights before deciding that she wanted to accompany Sasuke, she knew better than to think that the village’s medical system would suddenly collapse in her absence. “You know, the hospital operated pretty well even before I became Shisō’s apprentice, and Shizune is doing super well as the new Head Nurse. Ino is co-director of the clinic with me, and besides,” she amended with a plucky smile and cheeky wink, “healing the world can count for something, too, can’t it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Which was one of her main motivations to begin with, and had been why she’d been granted permission from Kakashi to travel with Sasuke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    
  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A lot’s changed these past few years,” Sasuke began long after they’d fallen into a comfortable pace abreast of each other. “It’s given me time to think. About life, my revenge, the war; pretty much everything.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Maybe about us, too,</span>
  </em>
  <span> Sakura foolishly thought his eyes said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know you don’t have to face it all alone, right? That you won’t go unsupported,” Sakura insinuated once he’d finished, the bobbing of the tenderly budded trees with their lacy foliage seeming to agree with her. “Two years is a long time to be away, Sasuke-kun. You probably spent lots of time thinking, and… maybe too much. Do you remember when you said I should focus on other things and work harder?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sasuke chuckled softly at that. “Yeah, I do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I’ve been focusing on a lot. I’m a Jōnin now, and while I know it doesn’t mean I should ever stop working hard, I want more than to be the one who's back you look at. More than just fighting side by side as Team 7… I want to have your back, and Naruto’s. That means I want to be a closer friend, Sasuke-kun. I want to be someone you can confide in as much as you can with Naruto.” Her mind couldn’t help but linger on the bell test when Sasuke had been trying to expound on the truth behind Itachi, even though it had been like grasping for straws. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As the main road branched into several diverting paths, they split off to one whose heading was west, that would eventually lead to the Naka’s banks she could hear from even where they were. Its babbling was cheerful and energetic, glad that they might be walking along its shores. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You… were never told the whole story, were you?” Sasuke broached softly, dappled shadows playing across his pale features. “Of what really happened to my clan.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sakura’s gaze settled on him seriously, shimmering with a voiceless, deeper sentiment. She turned away to bite her lip, gripping her sternum beneath her cloak as she swore her chest clenched. “No… I never have been, before. I guess there is more I don’t know, isn’t there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sasuke’s lips pursed, but he said nothing. And honestly, he didn’t need to. But, not again. Sasuke had gone so far as to let her into his world, on a journey they would make together. Part of her still felt so intimidated by what she didn’t know, of how large a gulf there was that dwarfed what she still had to learn about him. More than anything, she wanted to know. She wanted Sasuke to trust her as much as he did Naruto. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tell me everything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was with a warm, sincere smile that she said those words, canting her head to gauge her reaction. She wanted him to see. See her as someone trustworthy, because it was all that mattered to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By the shadow of a smile on his lips, her heart soared in her breast.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, promise.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A/N: The art is from a doujin originally from <a href="https://sekibeing.tumblr.com">sekibeing</a>.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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